For all those active people out there...

[WhiteIcE]

I just recently enrolled in Kung Fu! This awsome martial art drew me in, however I'm having an interesting start. The place is great, however, we run on 4 hour classes twice a week. That means the warmup is about 2.5 hours long, and we do about everything.

 

Now, I just had my first class, and it's been awhile since I've done a workout like that and I have been extreamly sore for the past two days. It used to be in my legs, arms (pits too) and cheast, but now its weak in my legs and arms, but strong pain in my abs/stomach/ribs area.

 

For someone who is out of shape (not fat) is this normal? And what are some good ways to soothe this pain until my body gets used to this type of workout?

[DaMoneyMaker]

Well though I don't do Kung Fu I am a brown belt in karate so I can understand, so it is normal 2 feel sum pain and discomforted when starting out. I would start by only going 2 1 class so u would have sum time 2 recover from the previous class. Also when you are home try exercising by doing sum push up's…etc. Good luck

[DiglyD]

Get pleanty of rest. Right now you over did it. Your muscles need to rebuild so you have to make sure you get enough sleep. Go to bed at a decent time.

 

Most likely you will be sore for a while until the muscles you have not used often get used to the resistance. You are out of shape and all of a sudden you have been asked to do alot that your body is not used to doing. Its going to take at least a month to get used to the new routine.

 

Its ok for your abs or chest to be sore if you did alot of crunches, abwork or pushups or whatever. If your ribs are hurting that most likely means that you could have bruised them. if that is the case, take it easy for the next couple of days to see if it goes away.

 

If your classis 4 hours long you probably overdid it on the first day. A 2.5 hour warmup for a student who has not excercised especially in martial arts is too much. You need to either take it easier, or work out on your own inbetween your visits to built up endurace and being used to the excessive amount of excercise.

 

I reccomend you take it easy for the next 2 days and then whenever you get a chance inbetween your kung fu classes you do situps, pushups on your own every morning and night to get yourself into better shape. Rest on sunday and go to bed before 11p.m. if possible. Get at least 6+ hours of sleep.

[WhiteIcE]

Well the thing is, the whole class does warmup together, so I'm kinda thrown into all these people who are doing the same thing, If I just do nothing, I'm sure someone will notice, and it's kung fu....so butt kicking most likely will be in order.

[obscurelemming]

oh boy. I know whenever I didn't ride (horses) for a few months then rode for two hours on a cross country horse, I couldn't even close my legs because of the pain. the reason it hurts is because when you build muscle the muscle that's already there has to rip then rebuild. so it's important to take at least a day off. If you ever weight train everyday it's good to alternate upper and lower body every day. I'll just echo everyone's reply of plenty of rest is important. try not to overdo it and have fun!!